Sunday, February 28, 2010

I totally forgot to show the the scrap purse that I remade using fat quarters. I needed to make it again out of yardage so I could write it up as a pattern as I'll be teaching it later in the spring at The Artful Quilter shop. Here it is as I had originally made it using Kaffe scraps... with lots of shiney embellishemnts on top of the machine appliqued flower on the front flap.

And here it is now made of a FQ bundle I had in my stash. I've named it "Brick and Mortar Bag", because of the brick shaped fabric rectangles with strips of fabric between rows. I like these fabrics allot. Will be a great fall purse!

It is a really quick purse to make. The gals in the class can choose to make it using their own scraps or 4 FQ and yardage for lining. They can embellish it with machine appliqued motifs or just put on a fun button closure as I did with this second version.

Goal # Two:

I used the FQ bundle of the "Full Bloom" collection to make this new spring raw edge appliqued quilt. The print was so large scale that the blocks were just simple large half-square triangles sewn together, so the beautiful fabric remained quite visable.

Goal # Three:

I used the gorgeous "Love" floral fabric along with a coordinating batik to make my "Lovely Irish Chain" quilt from the Quilts and More magazine.

Goal # Four:

I used the "Authentic" charm pack to make this awesome spring wall hanging.

Finish # 5:

I used the scraps from the "Full Bloom" quilt above to make this new spring purse.

Finish # Six:

I made my Westie, Yogi, a new pet bed from a kit my bee friend Suzanne gave me for Christmas! Yogi sure does love it!! :-)

Finish # Seven:

I am trying to catch up to everyone else involved in the Schnibbles group.

I made "Winter White" from 2 "Glace" collection charm packs.

Finish # Eight:

I also made a "Sunday Best" Schnibbles quilt from 2 "Panache" charm packs.

Finish # Nine:

I found a stack of Kaffe scraps when reorganizing one day and made a little zippered purse . I used it at the quilt show on Friday and it was the perfect size for $$$, credit card, phone and camera!

I was hoping to be able to add one more finish today- the "Picnic" Schnibbles quilt that I worked on this weekend... but alas...no, it is not done... maybe tomorrow night the top, at least, will be done. I'm afraid the piecing involved with all those little baskets got the better of me and I had to un-sew more than a few times today. Grrrr! :-(

Even soooooo, a pretty good month! :-)

Tomorrow I'll post my new goals for March!

Did you get all the stuff done you hoped to during this short February month?

Saturday, February 27, 2010

I'm sad to say that I was only able to sew a couple of hours this afternoon... between grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning and entertaining tonight.

Sigh... :-(

So, I got all the little half-square triangles made for the Schnibbles Picnic quilt. But the good news is that tomorrow, after Mass and and our weekly "date breakfast" out, I can sew the rest of the day!

Yesterday my bee friends and I went to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show in Hampton, VA for the day. the quilts were great, but the vendors awesome!!

I made a list this time and tried to stick to it!

I did pretty good!! ;-)

Today, I've got to run out to the grocery store to get stuff to make my meatballs for some folks coming over for dinner tonight.

Then, I can finally get into the sewing room! YAY!! I'll be working on my Picnic quilt from Schnibbles and hope to get the top done today if possible!! I'm sure jealous of those of you who can spend allllll dayyyyyy in your sewing room today for the Spring Sewing Party! I'll post again tonight!!

Saturday, February 20, 2010

I'm sorry I've not been posting these last few days. I've been watching skiers and skaters and such every night on the Olympics, so not so much sewing. Then we got a call yesterday at work that my son Anthony who is at VA Tech working on his Masters was coming home for the weekend. A nice surprise!! :-)

Here he is at a dance at Tech with his girlfriend, Leah. Yes, he is a hunk! :-)

Anyhoo, I had planned to work on my Easy Irish Chain quilt all day, but we are going to see a movie this afternoon with Anthony and also gotta run to the Verizon store, as my phone is dying, to the grocery store for food to make a requested dinner... ACK!!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

OK ... so when I sewed the scrap strips together the other day to make my spring purse, I had a thought. Scary, huh? :-)

What if every time you have leftover scraps beginning with your first project in January all through the year until your last one in December, you took your scraps and made a block from them. Pick a size- like 10" and make each block the same size. But you can make each one whatever block you want- a pieced block that you can get all the parts out of your project scraps... or you could try to make the same block for all of them... like make them all string pieced like the one above. Or all nine patches, or churn dashes, etc... However you choose. Then at the end of the year, you put them all together into a quilt- your own personal journal quilt for that year. So many quilts we make are given away to loved ones as gifts. This would still let you keep a little piece of all those quilts... to document your quilting for the whole year. Just a thought! Waddaudink?

This afternoon after I got home from work, I pulled out my copy of this Quilts and More magazine

and figured out how big I could make the Easy Irish Chain quilt shown on the front cover out of the Amy Butler "Love" floral I have on hand. I'm going to make it using only 2 fabrics- this gorgeous "Love" floral and an awesome purple batik.

I have enough to make a generous lap quilt which is just fine! So, I cut it all out and am sewing the nine patch strips together. Will keep working on it tomorrow night!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

OK, so I had this pile of strips cut off the twelve fat quarters from the Full Bloom collection that I just made a spring quilt from a few days ago. They were calling to me... insisting they would make me a lovely spring purse. Soooooo... I sewed them together, ironed some fusible fleece on the back and straightened the piece up. The strips were not all the same width, which I liked!!

I had a cool pair of plastic handles in my purse drawer to add to the project! I cut the piece down to the size I wanted the purse to be, a closure flap, handle strips and an inside pocket. I found some floral fabric in my stash for the lining.

I simply laid the cut pieces on top of the lining fabric and cut out around them. Who needs to measure and create a pattern piece, right?

I sewed the side seams and boxed the corners. I added a pocket on one side of the lining and then I sewed up the lining side seams remembering to leave open a few inches in the middle of one of the sides to use later to turn the purse right side out through!

I made the little strips I needed to attach the handles and the top closure flap, including the buttonhole in the flap. I measuredand pinned them in place and sewed them on with a 3/8" seam allowance.

I put the right sides together and pinned the lining

to the purse outside around the top. I sewed them

together using a 1/2" seam allowance.

I turned the purse right sides out through the opening in the lining side seam then sewed it shut.

Then all that was left to do was to topstitch around the top seam and add the button. By this time, Yogi was sound asleep in his bed on my sewing table... totally ignoring the whole process!

And so, this little scrap purse is all done!! Now I am really ready for spring, don't you think?

I just love getting a freebie from scraps, don't you? Aren't these fabrics just luscious?